TSN: The Best Laid Plans (Terran Space Navy)

by Paul Phipps

  Admiral Webster/ Private Comm Mode: “But you didn’t and you put the fear of God into these people, well at least the fear of the TSN anyway. What happened here today will get out and people will begin to question the clerics. Quietly at first but it’s a start.”

  Captain Thomas/ Private Comm Mode: “I hope so… Now I need to gather up that van and the private things of those three that tried to dart me. That reminds me did Belle notify you or Seeker about those artificial glands that two of them have?”

  Admiral Webster/ Private Comm Mode: “Artificial Glands!? No, this is the first I’ve heard about this. I’ll tell Seeker and she’ll get all the info the Belle has. Let me know what the Henri Pasteur finds out once you get back.”

  Captain Thomas/ Private Comm Mode: “Yes Sir, I’ll get right on it.”

  TSN Companion, 1300L, Tuesday, November 20, 2026

  Fleet Admiral Webster has decided that a weekly Staff meeting is something that is now becoming necessary as his people are starting to specialize in their endeavors.

  Commander Webster is now specializing in recruiting and training of recruits. Captain Thomas is handling Emergency Services and the Bio-War Weapon investigation.

  Lt. Commander Johansson is concentrating his efforts on Combat Strategies, both in-atmosphere and exo-atmosphere.

  Commander Christine Fuller has been given command of the Companion and has been directed to work with Lt. Commander Johansson to come up with different scenarios involving the IUR Military. Lt. Commander Albert Fuller is now in-charge of Intelligence gathering and analysis.

  “As we move into more and more specialized roles I believe it is necessary to introduce a time worn tradition from the business and military world, The Staff Meeting, they are usually boring but a necessary device to keep us abreast of each other tasks.” Fleet Admiral Webster said. “As you have already noticed most of us are not physically together. We are using Holography and in some cases virtual reality techniques to bring us all together. As time goes by I expect that we will fine-tune these techniques.” At which point he chuckled dryly.

  “Seeker, you’re up first. What the status of the TSN fleet?” he asked her.

  “All TSN vessels and installations are functioning at basic to normal operating levels. There are inquiries about when more humans will be able to join them as crews. I keep telling them that it’s a slow process but we are working on it.” Seeker told the group using a hologram of her Commander McAndrews as an avatar.

  “Commander Webster will give a more detailed brief on that later Seeker.” The Admiral said.

  “Yes, I know.” She said with a slight smile. “Continuing on then, keeping up with the primary task of scanning for possible threats to Earth E15714 there have been computed that three asteroids now pose a hazard of impacting with enough force to cause major destruction or become an Extinction Level Event.”

  “What is the time frame for these events?” Lt. Commander Fuller asked.

  “The Earliest is fifty-two years then one hundred-sixty-five and two hundred and fourteen years.” She said calmly.

  “And what do you propose to do about them, destroy the asteroids or just move them?” asked Commander Christine Fuller.

  “Each of them contains large amounts of valuable elements. I am going to propose moving them to an appropriate libration point and mine them for their material.” Seeker said.

  Admiral Webster smiled and said, “That sounds good for now, please give me a time frame on possible injection times to those points.”

  “Certainly, now there is an interesting piece of data. Two of the IGD’s assigned to random motion orbits have detected what appears to be an ion trail. It’s fairly recent in that it appears to have been created around Sixty-two years ago. With only two data points to work with it will take some time to come up with more complete information on this event.”

  “How can they tell it’s an ion trail?” Asked Ansel.

  “Because the particles that have been detected are an isotope of Argon and have a relative speed of .4C. Until we can find more of these particles it will remain an interesting point of data. It could be a fluke of nature, rare as that seems to be or it could be that an ion engine equipped probe or spacecraft came through the solar system.” Seeker said with equanimity.

  “It sounds interesting; it might be from one of local experimental deep space probes we were launching around that time. Admiral Webster mused, “In any case I know that if it becomes more than that you let me know.

  Commander Webster you’re next.”

  “Yes Sir, now that Commander Fuller has taken over the Companion, I have been concentrating on the recruiting issue. I believe that it’s going to be up to us alone for some time to come. As much as we would like to tap into the U.S. Navy’s experience I don’t think it is going to come about anytime soon.

  The U.S. Congress is still in a state of shock over the fact there is a Terran Space Navy. That is translating into delay tactics to put off any official acceptance of a ‘working relationship’. Our blockading the IUR hasn’t helped there either. On the positive side they aren’t actively impeding us either.

  What I am proposing is a multi-step process. The first part is the generation of interest. Ariadne and I propose creating a Computer game with the TSN as a centerpiece. We would supply our own gaming consoles for playing it using one of our high speed communication methodologies so that we stay off of the Current Hypernet and Cobweb protocols that have been instituted in the last few years.

  The game would have a fairly accurate portrayal of life in the TSN. Career choices would be accurate and the player would actually be training themselves for a TSN career through playing the game. It would incorporate single and massive multi-player modes. A portion of the game though would be ethical problems that would pop up.

  How the problems are solved would become a key component of determining an applicant’s worthiness. An example would be if a player is easily compromised or tends to choose evil or capricious behaviors in the game. These types of people would not be acceptable as members of the TSN. On the other hand those that only choose the ‘good’ ethical options would be more acceptable.

  There are of course many other things that can be tested for or trained for. An obvious one would be Command potential.

  Next in line are direct enlistment applications of persons with the required prior service time and duty stations. They would get an initial priority in the recruiting process.

  After much discussion I am of the opinion that applicants should be visited on an individual basis by a qualified TSN Recruiter at their home residence. As we all know joining the TSN is a major life changing decision, doing so in a familiar environment might be a beneficial to the decision.

  Which leads me to my next topic for discussion; I am proposing the following changes. An applicant can choose a trial enlistment of two or four years. At the end of that term both the Applicant and the TSN need to agree that they ‘fit’. If not then the applicant receives a lump sum payment for their time of service.

  Next, only full members of the TSN receive the required implants. The probationary members would need to rely on the other tools such as Earbuds or headsets for communications.

  And last but definitely not least. I propose taking over one of the large cities Seeker has had built as our official training facility.” Ansel finished up.

  There was silence for a minute or so after Ansel had finished. Finally Admiral Webster spoke. “I had never thought of using a computer game for pre-selecting people for the TSN. It’s quite different but I see a lot of potential.

  The ethical problems are interesting also, but aren’t most computer games fast paced with lots of action to keep the participants interest high? As we all know this sort of job is mostly hurry-up and wait. Mostly wait, I believe with only a few bits of real action in it. How are you going to simulate that?”

  “I think that we will do that by doing lots and lots of training and then simulating
how that training is to be utilized. And of course we will do simulations of past invasions in the other analogues. Who knows, maybe some of them will come up with new strategies?” Ansel said with a chuckle.

  “Alright then, why do you think you need one of the cities?” Seeker asked.

  “We need a boot camp, training facilities, family dwellings just about everything that a full member of the TSN would have access to. These people are potentially leaving behind everything they and their families and ancestors have ever known. We have the moral responsibility to ensure that they know what they are getting into.” Ansel told her seriously.

  Seeker nodded her head at that point. “Yes, you do have a point there. No objections from me then.”

  “Any other questions for Commander Webster?” Admiral Webster asked while looking around. He had no takers on that. “Very well, then Captain Thomas?” he said looking at her.

  Evana gave a quick recap of her week finishing off with:

  “The USAMRIID team has been raving about the Telefactors we’ve supplied them. They say it has increased the speed of their investigation four fold. They also report that ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ is also DE1T8, but with an interesting change. It’s been subtly modified, the lethality and initial contagion period remains similar but it looks like a ‘switch’ has been added.

  The going theory is that this means that a vaccine has been created for it. And if this is so, then mass inoculations of infected populations may halt the spread of the Bio-War agent.

  And lastly, the four young women I brought from Ramsheh are currently in training as medical assistants. This is at their request for something to ‘do’.”

  Lt. Commander Fuller asked, “What about that rapist and the Ayatollah who made the mistake of attacking you?”

  “Hameed is 75% through the transgender process; Gelya says that she will turn out to be exceptionally pretty. She was very amused at that.

  The Ayatollah Ruhallah Abdul Mohammed is fully repaired and being kept in stasis until he is returned to Ramsheh with Hameed next week.”

  “A very neat way to handle that problem. And in that culture it would be especially terrifying to a male to know that they could lose all of their ‘special’ privaleges that being born a male gives them.” Commander Christine Fuller said with a cruel smile.

  Lt. Commander Albert Fuller inquired, “Captain Thomas I have only received the one report on the Engram scan of Ahmad ben-Gupta, when can I expect to see the reports on the other two you captured?”

  “That’s a darn good question Lt. Commander,” Evana replied with a frown, “We haven’t gotten a good, let alone poor engram off of the other two. It’s like they aren’t thinking like humans. That extra gland they both have is strange too. It appears to have grown there right where it’s at. It wasn’t surgically inserted.

  Also they are both still in stasis, so we don’t have a good sample of what that gland is excreting either. I’m unsure what to do right now, frankly.

  I’m tending toward letting one stay in stasis and letting the other one resume normal bodily functions and get samples of the excretions. We may find that those excretions are the reason why we can’t get a decent engram recording.”

  “That sounds like a reasonable course of action to me.” Lt. Commander Fuller said. “Did you analyze that zombie drug?”

  “Yes, it’s the same as the one used on Commander Webster by the Homeland Security team.” Evana answered him.

  “Excellent! Another link to the President-for-Life aka Great Leader.” Lt. Commander Fuller said beaming. “If we can get a readable engram off of them it will help out.”

  “Anything else, Captain Thomas?” Evana shook head her head ‘No’ at the question. “Very good then; Commander Fuller?”

  “The Companion is fully operational with no problems to report. The evacuation effort from the Various Embassies and Consulates has dwindled to a trickle with at least fifteen completely closed down. The Iranians have instituted rationing on all commodities including Electricity and Water.

  I’m amazed at the control being demonstrated by the government over the population. There have only been three small demonstrations and they dispersed quickly once the Police showed up in riot gear. There hasn’t been the need for ‘excessive violence’ yet.

  On the other hand the government has concentrated its efforts only on the larger population centers. The rural areas are being completely ignored. The more energy intensive military vehicle and aircraft are being used sparingly as of the moment. And they are ignoring us just as we are ignoring them other than collecting intelligence.

  There are still two IUR submarines outside of the Blockade shields. I expect to see them applying for asylum soon as their consumables run out. Although who they would apply to is an unknown at this time. If I had to guess, I would guess the Islamic Republic of Egypt.” Christine finished up.

  “Any evidence of an attack being planned on the Companion?” Ariadne asked.

  “No, your replacement Johann is keeping a close eye on their more powerful units including their rocket forces.”

  “Ok, Lt. Commander Fuller, let’s have the news and suppositions.” Admiral Webster said with a grin.

  The Lt. Commander grinned right back at the Admiral and started off with his report. “The good news is all of the Encrypted Satellite calls to date into the IUR have been decrypted. Most of them are not germane to our purpose here. We have two more references to De1t8 from what we believe are personnel of the Emir of Smugglers.

  As far as they know, none of the vials managed to leave the country in time before we instituted the blockade. And quite frankly they are pissed at us because of this. We have sabotaged some effort of theirs that they consider to be vital.

  We have intercepted two Satellite calls that are very, very interesting. Voice analysis indicates that the caller is none other than the Secretary of Defense for the United States of America. That was done by a spectral analysis method. The recipient was none other than the Great Leader himself.” He smiled to himself as he said that.

  “Ok, ok, enough with the suspense. What did you find out?” Commander Fuller told him with a glare.

  “The honorable Secretary had to inform the Great Leader that at present there was no way that U.S. supplied forces or aircraft could breach or go over the barrier to get him out of the IUR. He was also working on the possibility of acquiring technology from the Terran Space Navy that would permit the Great Leaders orders to be fulfilled.”

  “You’re right that is very interesting. Lt. Commander Johansson didn’t you tell me that General Owens had a request from the Secretary for such vehicles?” Admiral Webster said.

  “Yes sir, I did.” Gunnar answered him. “You also directed that we will not be cooperating with them until we get that ‘Working Agreement’ through the Congress.”

  “Yes, that’s what I want. Now, if Lt. Commander Fuller’s voice analysis is correct I think we will see the Secretary of Defense starting to ‘cooperate’ more fully with us or to use his political influence to get the Congress to move quicker that they want to.” The Admiral stated as he held his hands crossed in a ‘temple’ formation under his chin. “What of the Ayatollah Al-Quds?”

  “The Ayatollah Al-Quds is generally a very happy man right now. If I had to make an analysis of his character I would say that what he has always wanted deep inside is for the world to go away and leave him alone to practice his version of Islam. And now he can do just that.

  So, as long as he is in power and the TSN doesn’t start anything militarily he won’t order them to attack us. In practice most of the other men on the Supreme council feel the same way as well as the top levels of the Bureaucracy.

  Now on the other hand and of course there is always the other hand, the Ayatollah is being pressured by ‘someone’ to do something to bring down the blockade shield. He is frightened of this someone who is only identified as the ‘Special Honored Guest’. I’m not sure which direction he will ju
mp because of that. We need to gather more information before we can give a reliable prediction there.” Lt. Commander Fuller finished up.

  “Could the ‘Special Honored Guest’ and the Great Leader be the same person?” Asked Commander Webster.

  “Yes they could be the same person or they could be different people. There is no evidence either way. So more data is needed.” Lt. Commander Fuller stated.

  “Well then we are just going to have to get you that data then.” Commander Fuller said with a smile at her husband.

  “Lt. Commander Johansson?” Admiral Webster said looking at him.

  “I’ve spent most of the week on the Johnny Reb; in fact that’s where I am now. All four of the Petroleum and Garbage conversion vessels are now in position. They are built on a similar plan and scale to the Companion. Each one is capable of fueling twenty Oil tankers at one time. The rear of each ship is capable of accepting six standard super-barges of garbage and hazardous materials. It will take some time and practice to get it down to a science, but eventually each will be able to off-load a super barge in less than 30 minutes. At that rate we can handle most of the world’s garbage problems. And with the garbage as our base stock we can convert eighty-five percent of it to various petroleum products. The remainder will be various precious metals and radio-actives. We can use those ourselves or sell them on the world’s commodity markets if we feel the need to do so.